So Much For A Quiet Afternoon
by Kali Cephirot
Summary: Junk Food? DVDs? The house completely alone? Yuuri is more than ready for well deserved break. [Yuuri, Shouri. Gen. FINISHED.]


**So Much For A Quiet Afternoon.**

Junk food? Check. More DVD's than he could possibly watch in one afternoon? Check. Phone unplugged? Check. The house completely empty, all for himself? Check, check and double check.

Yuuri grinned, settling himself on the couch, feet over the coffee table, something that would've caused his mom to thrill a 'YUU-CHAN' at him. Only that his dad had finally taken the eleventh clue his mom had given him about wanting a real holiday and he had taken his mom for two whole weeks to Paris (Yuuri had, a long time ago, decided that his father was a braver man than he'd ever be) so they weren't in the house at all.

He would've complained about that only for the fact that, technically, that made Shouri the 'responsible' grown up and God knew that, as much as he loved his brother, Shouri let that kind of things go to his head way to fast for anyone's liking, especially if you happened to be his little brother.

But Shouri was working for Bob now, so he spent most of the time at the office. Not only that, Yuuri was quite certain that his brother had a girlfriend there – quite certain meaning that Murata had told him that 'Big Brother' seemed really happy lately, and he had had to agree. Even so, Yuuri was just happy that it meant that, by the time Shouri would come back home, he would've had at least four hours of not doing absolutely nothing.

Yuuri whooped, picking up the remote. "Alright then! Let's start this!"

As the screen flared and Yuuri found himself immersed in another world but now in the safety of his couch, he kept on grinning. Since he had become a Maou his 'free' days had drastically reduced themselves to a practically non-existent state. When he was not busy studying he was busy learning how to be a proper monarch (even if Wolfram said that they'd be waiting at least thirty decades for that to happen) or learning swordsmanship or even training his team over Shin Makoku. And when he was back on Earth, well. Being in High School and having to worry about college and also about the next baseball season and being a son that was never mind the fact that he was a king in another kingdom, he still had to do chores (unfair!), well... he really didn't have much time of his own now-a-days.

So, since Murata was trapped in a meeting of that fancy school of his that made it so that they wouldn't be able to go to Shin Makoku until the next day IF Murata managed to run away from his classmates there, Yuuri was more than ready to spend the Saturday afternoon doing nothing at all. No studying, no signing Very Important Papers that he had to read at least twice before deciding where to sign, no chaos, no chores, no nothing but bad movies and junk food and being a teenager for a while.

Sure, he did feel a little guilty, but he was also quite certain that he deserved the break. It was like his coach always told the team: "If you don't rest and take care of your body properly, there's no way that you'll be able to play all the game". This time, taking proper care of his body meant not moving from that couch and cleaning the house of all the snacks his mom usually hid for when they had company.

Later, Yuuri would think that it was quite obvious that his quiet afternoon wasn't gonna last. It was just how things were.

At the moment, however, he was busy, immersed on a thriller, holding a pillow as the girl in the movie stepped around the house, searching for the killer. She was just about to open a closet, the last place of the room to find the killer ghost of a boy that had died there when the ghost materialized behind her. Yuuri almost chocked with the chips he had been eating.

"It's behind you, turn around!" He screamed at the TV.

"Who's behind what, now?" A voice said.

Yuuri's scream merged with that of the girl, once she turned around to find the ghost holding a knive.

Shouri turned on the lights of the living room, slipping off his shoes and padding on bare feet to the coach. Yuuri pressed a hand against his chest and sighed, taking the remote again to pause the movie and frown towards Shouri, who was already frowning at the amount of junk food piled next to him.

"Shouri!" Yuuri looked towards his brother, eyes wide. He could still feel his heart racing. "Don't do that! You almost scared me to death."

"That's your own fault for watching that kind of movies, Yuuri," Shouri said, shaking his head before flopping down on the couch, taking of his glasses and loosening his tie. The fact that his brother seemed exhausted mellowed Yuuri a bit about having his calm afternoon messed up.

"What happened? Your girlfriend kicked you out?" But that bit wasn't enough, of course.

Shouri snorted. "I finished my work earlier than I thought. Am I not allowed to come back to my own home after that?"

Yuuri sighed, slouching over the couch. Of course Shouri was allowed to come home whenever he pleased. He picked up the bag of chips and the remote again to let the movie continue, even if the mood had been completely ruined. What good was an horror movie when you weren't scared? Really.

Shouri stood up again but he picked, between ALL the soda cans Yuuri had left on the table, the one already open to take a long gulp as he walked towards the stairs.

"OI! That's mine, Shouri!"

Indeed, his quiet afternoon had ended. Yuuri mourned it by shoving a fistful of chips into his mouth and turning up the volume, slouching even more on the couch, chin almost completely against his chest.

After the movie was over, since he quite obviously wasn't going to spend the rest of the day alone, Yuuri considered his options between going out to the arcade or just lock himself in his room and play as many videogames he could when the doorbell rang. Knowing that Shouri was probably now immersed on those games of his, Yuuri stood up, dragging his feet as he muttered about idiot older brothers who never did anything and that he probably had even more responsibilities that Shouri because Shouri still wasn't the Earth's Maou!

"I'm going, I'm going," he told to whoever was through the door, already expecting a salesman or someone equally annoying.

Instead, he found a young woman around Shouri's age, still wearing an office suit, smiling softly towards him..

"Shibuya-kun," Yuuri blinked, wondering if he knew this woman or not, and bowed on instinct after she bowed too, "It's a pleasure to meet Shouri-san's younger brother finally. I'm sorry for coming without calling before, but both Shouri-san's cellphone and the house number didn't seem to connect. Is he home?"

"Ahh, yeah... don't worry, it's okay." Yuuri blinked again, too much information crammed too soon making absolutely no sense.. "Uh, please c'mon in, miss... ah..."

"Yamazaki Reiko, Shibuya-kun, but it's okay, I don't want to be a bother" Yamazaki-san said but then she smiled a bit more as she looked over his shoulder. "Shouri-san, good evening."

Yuuri stepped aside to let his brother take over, his brother's hair still damp and now in casual clothes, but Yuuri didn't quite go back towards the living room just yet; Shouri hadn't quite slipped into his Business' mode with this woman, and yet...

"Reiko-san, I wasn't expecting you," Shouri said gently, and then frowned. "Is everything alright at the office?"

"Yes, Shouri-san, I just noticed you forgot this papers as I was going out and remembered that you had wanted to study them before Monday's meeting," Yamazaki-san said, offering Shouri a bunch of folders which Shouri took, his smile still sort of off in a way Yuuri hadn't seen before.

"You shouldn't have bothered," Shouri affirmed, papers tucked against his side. Yamazaki-san shook her head.

"That's my job, Shouri-san," Yamazaki-san said, bowing her head a little again. "See you on Monday then, Shouri-san."

"Ah, wait, Reiko-san, I'll walk you towards the station, it's the least I can do," Shouri said, already reaching towards his shoes, but Yamazaki-san shook her head. The soft smile was still there.

"Oh, it's not necessary, Shouri-san, please, you're already at home after all, and it'd be terribly rude of me. Good night, Shouri-san, Shibuya-kun."

And before Shouri could put his shoes or Yuuri do more than an awkward bow as he muttered his farewells, Yamazaki-san turned around to walk towards the station. Yuuri blinked again and turned towards his brother.

"Who was she?"

Shouri put down his shoes and moved towards the couch, flopping down and picking up some pocky. Yuuri decided to ignore that for the moment and instead focused over his brother.

"She's Yamazaki Reiko and she is my-"

"Girlfriend?" Yuuri guessed. Yamazaki-san was cute alright in a librarian kind of way, he guessed. And even if she hadn't been, just the fact that his brother actually _had_ interest in the female sex was enough. Their mom was gonna have kittens once she found out, and she was quite possibly going to start planning the wedding. She might even want to make it a double wedding with the one she and Celi-sama were planning for him and Wolfram.

He scored a point when Shouri blushed and glared at him, and Yuuri started to grin.

"My _assistant_," Shouri huffed but Yuuri kept on grinning because now, this? This was compensation for unknowingly ruining his perfect afternoon.. "She's a mazoku, too, and she has been working for Bob for a while. Since I'm having a more active role, Bob said that she was going to be my assistant to help me organize a bit."

"Uh-huh. And that's why you're in first-name basis, aren't you, Oniichan?" Yuuri almost felt like laughing at the way Shouri refused to look at him again.

"We work together six hours a day at least, Yuuri."

"_'Work'_, Shouri?" Yuuri snickered a bit, enjoying the reversal of the situation. "And that's why mom has no idea, right? Oh, I can just _imagine_ what mom'd say if she was to find out you have a cute assistant."

Shouri bit harshly unto the pocky stick and then turned to look at him, eyes wide with something almost like fright. 

"You wouldn't."

Of course not, he wasn't nearly that evil for that, but Yuuri let that hang on the air between them as he settled down again, in a much better mood now. Of course _he_ wouldn't. But next time Shouri started being his usual self, he might have a slip around Murata, and it would only be ah... how had Günther put it... tactical planning.

"So, Shouri, when are you asking her out?" Yuuri asked instead of answering, picking a new bag of chips and the remote and putting some anime.

"I'll tell you when it's any of your business," Shouri said, mouth still around a pocky stick before he picked up the remote and changed the anime to a boring news-channel, and in English to add insult to injury.

"Oi, c'mon! You know about my life!" Yuuri tried to reason with Shouri, picking up the remote again and going back to the anime, just in time to see an explosion.

Shouri took the remote of his hand, swapping back to the news. "Only because you had to bring your fiancé and the rest of your harem here, or who knows how long it would've taken you."

And Shouri scored a point. Still, Yuuri huffed, reaching for the remote again... but Shouri didn't put it back between them, instead held unto it.

"I was watching that!" Yuuri complained, trying to fight for the remote, but Shouri switched it to his other hand and glared.

"'Was' being the operative term. You should be more informed of the world around you, Yuu-chan!"

"I'm quite informed of the world I rule, thank you!" Shouri snorted, still keeping the remote away from him. "I am!" Or at least he was always sure to have someone Very Informed near him, which was almost the same, especially in a world where the internet didn't exist. "Shouri! Give me the remote!"

And of course, since the world wouldn't want him to relax or something ludicrous like that, just as he and Shouri fought to get the remote, channels switching from one to other as they kept the buttons mashed between their hands, they heard something crack. 

When they let go, the thing once known as remote fell split open, lots of tiny pieces breaking free in what, Yuuri was sure, wasn't supposed to happen.

He and Shouri looked a the once-known-as remote and then at each other, eyes wide with shock before, in sync, they pointed a hand to each other.

"Your fault! My fault?! If you had let go, it wouldn't have broken! It's your fault! Yours!"

Shouri's cellphone rang then, and his brother moved from the couch as fast as he could, his voice serious and formal once more even with Yuuri still saying it had been Shouri's fault and that he so was going to tell his mom and Celi-sama both that he had a girlfriend before crossing his arms and sulking over the couch, pouting as he watched some indefinite movie.

So much for a quiet afternoon, really.


End file.
